Acclaimed worldwide for his imagination and sensitivity, composer-pianist Motoki Hirai makes a welcome return to Cadogan Hall following his highly successful recital in 2014. His career to date has taken him to over 60 countries around the globe. Opening the programme with works by JS Bach and Beethoven, composers he has admired throughout his musical career; the second half includes part of a series of works compiled for ‘The Fascinating World of Folklore and Stories – Brought to Life through Reading and Music’ which he has been running since 2007. The project is planned to be introduced at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which the latest exciting development and covers the Romantic giants Schubert, Chopin and Mendelssohn, including his own transcriptions, to give it a consistent theme.

Délica invites you to experience classical music from a new perspective.

The Délica Chamber Orchestra was founded in June 2017 in Madrid and comprises musicians from some of Europe’s most prestigious universities including: Mozarteum University of Salzburg (Austria), University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Austria), Manchester University of Music (UK), Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Russia), Queen Sofía College of Music (Spain), Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Italy) and Cologne University of Music (Germany).

Their diverse backgrounds, views and cultures come together in a powerful union of talent and love of music. Their broad range of musical styles, from Baroque to contemporary has delighted audiences wherever they have performed, with playing of passion, sensitivity and elegance.

Délica has performed in some of the top venues in Spain including the Auditorio Nacional of Madrid, Teatro Real and the Palau de la Música Catalana.

“The LGT Young Soloists are clearly one of the finest youth orchestras in Europe”
– Fanfare, December 2017

“The LGT Young Soloists are essentially a very high-class youth string orchestra”–The Strad, September 2017

The award-winning string ensemble LGT Young Soloists is made up of highly gifted soloists aged 12 to 23 from more than 15 nations. Together, they have won more than 80 prizes in national and international competitions.

2018 will take them to Hong Kong, Singapore, Belgrade, Zurich, Munich, Düsseldorf and London, among other major cities and to their debut at the Dresden Music Festival. The 2016/17 season included performances in many European countries as well as the Far East, Middle East, Israel and Russia.

They have made three recordings to date and were the first youth orchestra to record for RCA Red Seal. All three recordings have received outstanding reviews.

Founded in 2013 by Alexander Gilman and Marina Seltenreich with the aim of uniting exceptional young talent with their peers as soloists within their own orchestra, the concept is unique and has been celebrated by press and audiences worldwide.

After abandoning a concert career to work as an interpreter at the United Nations in New York, Uruguayan pianist Alberto Reyes makes a very welcome return to the London scene, performing works with which he has a great affinity.

Here is a fascinating and extremely beautiful Chopin recital from a pianist of whom we have heard little in the past decades.

“Alberto Reyes presents both the big sonatas and some substantial shorter pieces in account that are unusual, personal, and deeply rewarding.” – Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine

27 year-old Romanian pianist Daniel Ciobanu was awarded 2nd Prize and audience favourite in the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition 2017. Between 2010 and 2016 he studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Aaron Shorr, Petras Geniusas and Steven Osborne. A particular highlight was in May 2011, when he was invited to perform alongside Lang Lang in the Royal Festival Hall.

He is laureate of several international competitions, amongst them Concourse Internationale Musique de l’Orchestre Philharmonic du Maroc and the UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa. He has performed in international festivals in England, France and China; and with orchestras such as Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra of Pretoria, and the Israel Philharmonic. In September 2017, Ciobanu toured Japan as part of the Rubinstein Competition’s winners tour. Ciobanu is the Artistic Director of Neamt Piano Festival, Romania.

Winning the Premio Venezia in 2013 (a competition reserved for the best young talent in Italy) gave Alexander Gadjiev the opportunity to give numerous recitals throughout Italy, as well as perform widely in Europe. In 2015 he was awarded 1st Prize and the Audience Prize in the Ninth Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. Since then he has been invited to play regularly in Japan. He also performs in many of the major festivals in Europe, and in Moscow, Salt Lake City, Istanbul

His latest CD entitled “Literary Fantasies” will be released in September for “ACOUSENCE RECORDS” and will contain works by Schumann and Liszt.

“…in my opinion, one of the most important figures in modern European pianism.”
(Mario Messinis, music critic, following the 30th Premio Venezia)

“true elegance and passion.” (Sergey Babayan)

“His strength lies in the originality and creativity of his interpretation”
(Akiko Ebi, President of the Ninth Hamamatsu International Piano Competition)